Location Based Discovery of Real-time Merchant Device Activity

ABSTRACT

Systems, apparatus, methods, and non-transitory media for consumer interfaces including ambient map displays are discussed herein. Some embodiments may include a system with one or more servers. The one or more servers may be configured to generate a consumer interface including an ambient map display with a graphical representation of a map. The ambient map display may further include merchant location indicators within the map. The merchant location indicators may indicate the activity level for merchant locations that are determined to be near a consumer device, such as through a variable blink rate or other indicator. The activity level may represent, for example, the number of consumers at a particular venue or the rate of a particular consumer activity, such as transaction activity. The system may be configured to provide real-time merchant data to consumer device based on tracking the consumer device location.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.15/816,536, filed Nov. 17, 2017, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 15/613,918, titled Location Based Discovery ofReal-time Merchant Device Activity, filed Jun. 5, 2017, which isincorporated by reference herein in its entirety, which was acontinuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/980,667, titled LocationBased Discovery of Real-time Merchant Device Activity, filed Dec. 28,2015, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, andwhich claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/097,023,titled “Location Based Discovery of Real-time Merchant Device Activity,”filed Dec. 26, 2014, which is also incorporated by reference herein inits entirety.

FIELD

Embodiments of the invention relate, generally, to techniques forsharing real-time electronic data associated with merchant locationswith networked consumer devices and based on consumer device location.

BACKGROUND

Financial transactions between merchants and consumers typically requirethe consumers to present a form of payment to the merchant. As a result,consumers may be required to keep wallets that include paymentinstruments such as cash, credit cards, debit cards, deal vouchers,coupons, reward tracking cards, checks or the like that may be acceptedby merchants and/or devices used at the point-of-sale locations (e.g.,point-of-sale devices, such as cash registers, credit card readers,etc.). Various merchants have begun to adopt point-of-sale merchantdevices capable of communicating with mobile consumer devices (e.g.,smart phones) to help streamline electronic payments because of thewidespread adoption of such mobile consumer devices. Through appliedeffort, ingenuity, and innovation, solutions to improve such systemshave been identified and are described in detail below.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Some embodiments may provide for a system configured to provide improvedconsumer interfaces to consumer devices that are responsive to changingconsumer device location. For example, the system may include one ormore servers with communication circuitry configured to connect withconsumer devices and merchant devices via a network. The one or moreservers may further include processing circuitry configured to: receive,via the network, transaction data from the merchant devices; determinean activity level score for each of the plurality of merchant locationsbased on the transaction data; receive, via the network and from aconsumer device, consumer device location data indicating a consumerdevice location of the consumer device; determine, based on a comparisonof the consumer device location and the plurality of merchant locations,one or more local merchant locations to the consumer device location;generate a consumer interface including an ambient map display, whereinthe ambient map display includes a graphical representation of a mapwith the one or more local merchant location indicators within the mapthat indicate the activity level score for the one or more localmerchant locations; and provide the consumer interface to the consumerdevice via the network.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry configured to determinethe one or more local merchant locations proximate to the plurality ofmerchant locations may include processing circuitry being configured to:determine a distance threshold; and determine the one or more localmerchant locations from the plurality of merchant locations based ondetermining that the one or more local merchant locations are within thedistance threshold to the consumer device location.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry configured to determinethe distance threshold may include the processing circuitry beingconfigured to: determine, based on the consumer device location data atravel speed of the consumer device; and determine the distancethreshold based on the travel speed of the consumer device.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry configured to determinethe distance threshold may include the processing circuitry beingconfigured to: receive, via the network and from the consumer device,consumer device input indicating a mode of transportation; and determinethe distance threshold based on the mode of transportation.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry configured to determinethe distance threshold may include the processing circuitry beingconfigured to: determine, based on the consumer device location data, amode of transportation; and determine the distance threshold based onthe mode of transportation.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry configured to determinethe activity level score for each of the plurality of merchant locationsbased on the transaction data may include the processing circuitry beingconfigured to determine, based on the transaction data, an average rateof received transaction data instances for a predetermined period oftime.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry configured to determinethe activity level score for each of the plurality of merchant locationsbased on the transaction data may include the processing circuitry beingconfigured to determine, based on the transaction data, a projectedactivity level.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry configured to determinethe activity level score for each of the plurality of merchant locationsbased on the transaction data may include the processing circuitry beingconfigured to determine, based on the transaction data, a currentactivity level.

In some embodiments, the transaction data from the merchant devices mayindicate consumer device interactions with merchant devices via wirelessdirect connections. The processing circuitry configured to determine theactivity level score for each of the plurality of merchant locationsbased on the transaction data may include the processing circuitry beingconfigured to determine the activity level score based on the consumerdevice interactions associated with each of the plurality of merchantlocations.

In some embodiments, the transaction data may include an indication of acompleted transaction. The processing circuitry may be furtherconfigured to, for each completed transaction of a local merchantlocation, provide an indication of the completed transaction as a visualenhancement to a local merchant indicator associated with the localmerchant location.

In some embodiments, at least one of the one or more local merchantlocation indicators may be visually enhanced with blink rates that arevariable based on the activity level scores.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry may be further configuredto, in response to receiving consumer device input indicating aselection of a local merchant location indicator, provide a merchantdisplay to the consumer interface including merchant data of a localmerchant location associated with the local merchant location indicator.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry may be further configuredto display, within the consumer interface, a travel path extending fromthe consumer device location to a local merchant location associatedwith a local merchant location indicator.

Some embodiments may provide for a machine-implemented method,including: receiving, by processing circuitry of one or more serversconnected with merchant devices and consumer devices via a network,transaction data from the merchant devices; determining, by theprocessing circuitry, an activity level score for each of the pluralityof merchant locations based on the transaction data; receiving, by theprocessing circuitry via the network and from a consumer device,consumer device location data indicating a consumer device location ofthe consumer device; determining, by the processing circuitry and atleast in part by comparing the consumer device location and theplurality of merchant locations, one or more local merchant locationsproximate to the consumer device location; generating, by the processingcircuitry a consumer interface including an ambient map display, whereinthe ambient map display comprises one or more local merchant locationindicators associated with the one or more local merchant locations, andwherein at least one of the one or more local merchant locationindicators is visually enhanced based on the activity level score forthe one or more local merchant locations; and providing, by theprocessing circuitry, the consumer interface to the consumer device viathe network.

In some embodiments, determining the one or more local merchantlocations proximate to the plurality of merchant locations may include:determining a distance threshold; and determining the one or more localmerchant locations from the plurality of merchant locations based ondetermining that the one or more local merchant locations are within thedistance threshold to the consumer device location.

In some embodiments, determining the distance threshold may include, bythe processing circuitry: determining, based on the consumer devicelocation data a travel speed of the consumer device; and determining thedistance threshold based on the travel speed of the consumer device.

In some embodiments, determining the distance threshold may include, bythe processing circuitry: receiving, via the network and from theconsumer device, consumer device input indicating a mode oftransportation; and determining the distance threshold based on the modeof transportation.

In some embodiments, determining the distance threshold may include, bythe processing circuitry: determining, based on the consumer devicelocation data, a mode of transportation; and determining the distancethreshold based on the mode of transportation.

In some embodiments, determining the activity level score for each ofthe plurality of merchant locations based on the transaction data mayinclude determining, based on the transaction data, an average rate ofreceived transaction data instances for a predetermined period of time.

In some embodiments, determining the activity level score for each ofthe plurality of merchant locations based on the transaction data mayinclude determining, based on the transaction data, a projected activitylevel.

In some embodiments, the transaction data from the merchant devices mayindicate consumer device interactions with merchant devices via wirelessdirect connections. Determining the activity level score for each of theplurality of merchant locations based on the transaction data mayinclude determining the activity level score based on the consumerdevice interactions associated with each of the plurality of merchantlocations.

In some embodiments, the transaction data may include an indication of acompleted transaction. The method may further include, by the processingcircuitry and for each completed transaction of a local merchantlocation, providing an indication of the completed transaction as avisual enhancement to a local merchant indicator associated with thelocal merchant location.

In some embodiments, the at least one of the one or more local merchantlocation indicators may be visually enhanced with blink rates that arevariable based on the activity level scores.

In some embodiments, the method may further include, by the processingcircuitry and in response to receiving consumer device input indicatinga selection of a local merchant location indicator, providing a merchantdisplay to the consumer interface including merchant data of a localmerchant location associated with the local merchant location indicator.

In some embodiments, the method may further include, by the processingcircuitry, displaying within the consumer interface a travel pathextending from the consumer device location to a local merchant locationassociated with a local merchant location indicator.

Some embodiments may include circuitry and/or media configured toimplement the methods and/or other functionality discussed herein. Forexample, one or more processors, and/or other machine components may beconfigured to implement the functionality discussed herein based oninstructions and/or other data stored in memory and/or othernon-transitory computer readable media.

These characteristics as well as additional features, functions, anddetails of various embodiments are described below. Similarly,corresponding and additional embodiments are also described below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Having thus described some embodiments in general terms, reference willnow be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarilydrawn to scale, and wherein:

FIG. 1 shows an example of a system configured in accordance with someembodiments;

FIG. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of example circuitry of apoint-of-sale service configured in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 3 depicts an example data flow illustrating interactions between aserver, one or more consumer devices, and one or more merchant devicesin accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 4 shows a schematic block diagram of example circuitry of aconsumer device configured in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 5 shows a schematic block diagram of example circuitry of amerchant device configured in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of an example of a method of providing aconsumer interface performed in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 7 shows an example home display of a consumer device in accordancewith some embodiments;

FIG. 8 shows an example of an ambient map display in accordance withsome embodiments;

FIG. 9 shows an example of an ambient map display in accordance withsome embodiments;

FIG. 10 shows an example of a merchant display in accordance with someembodiments; and

FIG. 11 shows an example of a directions display in accordance with someembodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some embodiments will now be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not allembodiments of the invention are shown. Indeed, the invention may beembodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limitedto the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments areprovided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legalrequirements. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

Overview

Some embodiments may provide for a computing system configured tofacilitate improved consumer and merchant interactions. For example, thecomputing system may include one or more servers (e.g., of a centralsystem) that are connected with merchant devices and consumer devicesvia a network (e.g., the Internet). The merchant devices may bepoint-of-sale devices located at merchant locations to facilitatepoint-of-sale functionality on behalf of consumers. The one or moreservers may communicate with the merchant devices to receive transactiondata generated via the point-of-sale functionality. Based on thetransaction data, the one or more servers may be configured to generatea consumer interface and provide the consumer interface to a consumerdevice. In general, the consumer interface may include an indication ofthe activity level of merchants determined based on the receivedtransaction data, and thus may be used by consumers to find merchantsthat fit consumer interests or mood.

For example, consumer interface may include an ambient map display witha graphical representation of a map. One or more local merchant locationindicators indicating merchant locations that are near the consumerdevice may be indicated within the ambient map display. Furthermore, theambient map display may indicate the activity level (e.g., based on anactivity level score) for the one or more local merchant locations.

In that sense, a consumer may carry the consumer device while travelingthrough a city, neighborhood, or the like. The ambient map display maybe updated based on the consumer device location, as well as based onreal-time transaction data received form the consumer devices. Thus theconsumer can determine real-time venue popularity to find a nearby partyor a quiet spot, among other things. Some embodiments may furtherprovide for improved and streamlined consumer interfaces for accessingand interacting with merchant data provided to consumer devices via anetwork.

Definitions

As used herein, the terms “data,” “content,” “information,” and similarterms may be used interchangeably to refer to data capable of beingtransmitted, received, and/or stored in accordance with embodiments ofthe present invention. Thus, use of any such terms should not be takento limit the spirit and scope of embodiments of the present invention.Further, where a computing device is described herein to receive datafrom another computing device, it will be appreciated that the data maybe received directly from the another computing device or may bereceived indirectly via one or more intermediary computing devices, suchas, for example, one or more servers, relays, routers, network accesspoints, base stations, hosts, and/or the like, sometimes referred toherein as a “network.” Similarly, where a computing device is describedherein to send data to another computing device, it will be appreciatedthat the data may be sent directly to the another computing device ormay be sent indirectly via one or more intermediary computing devices,such as, for example, one or more servers, relays, routers, networkaccess points, base stations, hosts, and/or the like.

As used herein, the term “consumer interface service” may include aservice that is accessible via one or more computing devices (e.g.,mobile consumer devices) and that is operable to provide an electronic,interactive electronic user interface to the consumer devices. Theconsumer interface service may be connected with merchant devices andconsumer devices via a network (e.g., the Internet). The consumerinterface service may collect consumer tracking data (e.g., such astransaction data, location data, wallet identifying data that identifiesa consumer device or consumer account, etc.) from the merchant devicesand may programmatically process the consumer tracking data as discussedherein. The consumer interface may further provide the processedinformation to consumer devices based on consumer device location. Inone example, the consumer tracking data may be processed to determine anactivity level score for merchants. The activity level score for themerchants may be provided within the map display of the consumerinterface of a consumer device based on consumer device location.Furthermore, various merchant information associated with multiple(e.g., otherwise unaffiliated) merchants may be aggregated by theconsumer interface service as discussed in greater detail herein.

As used herein, the term “point-of-sale service” or “POS service” mayinclude a service that is accessible via one or more computing devicesand that is operable to provide point-of-sale related services on behalfof one or more providers that offer goods, services, experiences and/orthe like (or “items,” as used herein). In some examples, the POS servicemay take the form of a payment processor, a menu generator, a tab orcheckout manager, an inventory manager, an employee/payroll manager, aredemption authority, a rewards provider, an entity in a financialnetwork, a promoter, an agent and/or the like. As such, the POS serviceis, in some example embodiments, configured to provide point-of-saleinterfaces (e.g., including one or more menu displays, check-outscreens, promotion or item recommendations, promotion redemptiondisplays, etc.), provide consumer information to merchant devices tofacilitate consumer service, generate menu displays that are tailored toconsumer preferences, facilitate preparation of menu items, trackmerchant inventory levels and generate menus based on the inventorylevels, process payments, order additional merchant inventory, andrelated activities.

In some embodiments, the POS service may be further configured topresent one or more promotions via one or more impressions, acceptpayments for promotions from consumers, issue instruments uponacceptance of an offer, participate in redemption, generate rewards,provide a point of sale device or service, issue payments to providersand/or or otherwise participate in the exchange of goods, services orexperiences for currency, value and/or the like. The POS service mayalso, in some example embodiments, be configured to offer merchantservices such as promotion building (e.g., assisting merchants withselecting promotion data parameters for newly created promotions),promotion counseling (e.g., offering information to merchants to assistwith using promotions as marketing), promotion analytics (e.g., offeringinformation to merchants to provide data and analysis regarding thecosts and return-on-investment associated with offering promotions), andthe like.

As used herein, the terms “provider” and “merchant” may be usedinterchangeably and may include, but are not limited to, a businessowner, consigner, shopkeeper, tradesperson, vendor, operator,entrepreneur, agent, dealer, organization or the like that is in thebusiness of a providing a good, service or experience to a consumer,facilitating the provision of a good, service or experience to aconsumer and/or otherwise operating in the stream of commerce. The“provider” or “merchant” need not actually market a product or servicevia the promotion and marketing service, as some merchants or providersmay utilize the POS service only for the purpose of gathering marketinginformation, demographic information, or the like, or receivingpoint-of-sale functionality.

As used herein, the term “consumer” should be understood to refer to arecipient of goods, services, promotions, media, or the like provided bythe POS service and/or a merchant. Consumers may include, withoutlimitation, individuals, groups of individuals, corporations, othermerchants, and the like.

As used herein, the term “promotion” may include, but is not limited to,any type of offered, presented or otherwise indicated reward, discount,coupon, credit, deal, incentive, discount, media or the like that isindicative of a promotional value or the like that upon purchase oracceptance results in the issuance of an instrument that may be usedtoward at least a portion of the purchase of particular goods, servicesand/or experiences defined by the promotion. Promotions may havedifferent values in different contexts. For example, a promotion mayhave a first value associated with the cost paid by a consumer, known asan “accepted value.” When redeemed, the promotion may be used topurchase a “promotional value” representing the retail price of thegoods. The promotion may also have a “residual value,” reflecting theremaining value of the promotion after expiration. Although consumersmay be primarily focused on the accepted and promotional value of thepromotion, a promotion may also have additional associated values. Forexample, a “cost value” may represent the cost to the merchant to offerthe promotion via the POS service, where the POS service receives thecost value for each promotion sold to a consumer. The promotion may alsoinclude a “return on investment” value, representing a quantifiedexpected return on investment to the merchant for each promotion sold.

For example, consider a promotion offered by the POS service for a $50meal promotion for $25 at a particular restaurant. In this example, $25would be the accepted value charged to the consumer. The consumer wouldthen be able to redeem the promotion at the restaurant for $50 appliedtoward their meal check. This $50 would be the promotional value of thepromotion. If the consumer did not use the promotion before expiration,the consumer might be able to obtain a refund of $22.50, representing a10% fee to recoup transaction costs for the merchant and/or POS service.This $22.50 would be the residual value of the promotion. If the POSservice charged the merchant $3.00 to offer the promotion, the $3.00 feewould be the “cost value.” The “return on investment” value of thepromotion might be dynamically calculated by the POS service based onthe expected repeat business generated by the marketing of thepromotion, the particular location, the demographics of the consumer,and the like. For example, the return on investment value might be$10.00, reflecting the long term additional profit expected by themerchant as a result of bringing in a new customer through use of apromotion.

Promotions may be provided to consumers and redeemed via the use of an“instrument.” Instruments may represent and embody the terms of thepromotion from which the instrument resulted. For example, instrumentsmay include, but are not limited to, any type of physical credential(e.g., magnetic strip cards or printed barcodes), virtual accountbalance (e.g., a promotion being associated with a particular useraccount on a merchant website), secret code (e.g., a character stringthat can be entered on a merchant website or point-of-sale), tender,electronic certificate, medium of exchange, voucher, or the like whichmay be used in a transaction for at least a portion of the purchase,acquisition, procurement, consumption or the like of goods, servicesand/or experiences as defined by the terms of the promotion.

In some examples, the instrument may take the form of tender that has agiven value that is exchangeable for goods, services and/or experiencesand/or a reduction in a purchase price of a particular good, service orexperience. In some examples, the instrument may have multiple values,such as accepted value, a promotional value and/or a residual value. Forexample, using the aforementioned restaurant as the example provider, anelectronic indication in a mobile application that shows $50 of value tobe used as payment for a meal check at the restaurant. In some examples,the accepted value of the instrument is defined by the value exchangedfor the instrument. In some examples, the promotional value is definedby the promotion from which the instrument resulted and is the value ofthe instrument beyond the accepted value. In some examples, the residualvalue is the value after redemption, the value after the expiry or otherviolation of a redemption parameter, the return or exchange value of theinstrument and/or the like.

As used herein, the term “redemption” refers to the use, exchange orother presentation of an instrument for at least a portion of a good,service or experience as defined by the instrument and its relatedpromotion. In some examples, redemption includes the verification ofvalidity of the instrument. In other example embodiments, redemption mayinclude an indication that a particular instrument has been redeemed andthus no longer retains an actual, promotional and/or residual value(e.g., full redemption). In other example embodiments, redemption mayinclude the redemption of at least a portion of its actual, promotionaland/or residual value (e.g., partial redemption). An example ofredemption, using the aforementioned restaurant as the example provider,is the exchange of the $50 instrument and $50 to settle a $100 mealcheck.

As used herein, the term “impression” refers to a metric for measuringhow frequently consumers are provided with marketing information relatedto a particular good, service, or promotion. Impressions may be measuredin various different manners, including, but not limited to, measuringthe frequency with which content is served to a consumer (e.g., thenumber of times images, websites, or the like are requested byconsumers), measuring the frequency with which electronic marketingcommunications including particular content are sent to consumers (e.g.,a number of e-mails sent to consumers or number of e-mails includingparticular promotion content), measuring the frequency with whichelectronic marketing communications are received by consumers (e.g., anumber of times a particular e-mail is read), or the like. Impressionsmay be provided through various forms of media, including but notlimited to communications, displays, or other perceived indications,such as e-mails, text messages, application alerts, mobile applications,other type of electronic interface or distribution channel and/or thelike, of one or more promotions.

As used herein, the term “electronic marketing information” refers tovarious electronic data and signals that may be interpreted by a POSservice to provide improved point-of-sale interfaces and/or electronicmarketing communications. Electronic marketing information may include,without limitation, clickstream data (defined below), consumer trackingdata (defined below), location data (defined below), communicationchannel data (defined below), discretionary data (defined below),real-time consumer device signals (defined below) or any other datastored by or received by the POS service for use in providing consumerinterfaces and/or point-of-sale interfaces. In some embodiments, theelectronic marketing information may further be used to provideelectronic communications to consumers devices (e.g., within theconsumer interface).

As used herein, the term “clickstream data” refers to electronicinformation indicating content viewed, accessed, edited, or retrieved byconsumers. This information may be electronically processed and analyzedby a POS service to improve the quality of electronic marketing andcommerce transactions offered by, through, and in conjunction with thePOS service. It should be understood that the term “clickstream” is notintended to be limited to mouse clicks. For example, the clickstreamdata may include various other consumer interactions, including withoutlimitation, mouse-over events and durations, the amount of time spent bythe consumer viewing particular content, the rate at which impressionsof particular content result in sales associated with that content,demographic information associated with each particular consumer, dataindicating other content accessed by the consumer (e.g., browser cookiedata), the time or date on which content was accessed, the frequency ofimpressions for particular content, associations between particularconsumers or consumer demographics and particular impressions, and/orthe like.

As used herein, the term “transaction data” refers to electronicinformation indicating that a transaction is occurring or has occurredvia either a consumer device, merchant device, or the POS service.Transaction data may include information relating to the transaction.For example, transaction data may include consumer payment or billinginformation, consumer approval data (e.g., indicating consumer approvalof a payment), consumer shipping information, items purchased by theconsumer, a merchant rewards account number associated with theconsumer, the type of shipping selected by the consumer for fulfillmentof the transaction, or the like. In some embodiments, transaction datamay include electronic data generated by merchant devices via merchantinput to the point-of-sale interface provided by the POS service.

As used herein, the term “location data” refers to electronicinformation indicating a particular location. Location data may beassociated with a consumer, a merchant, or any other entity capable ofinteraction with the POS service. For example, in some embodimentslocation data is provided by a location services circuitry, a locationservices module of a consumer mobile device, and/or location sensors(e.g., GPS, operating system location services, WiFi access pointidentification sensors, etc.) that are configured to generate electronicinformation or signals that are indicative of the context, position, orenvironment surrounding the consumer device. In some embodiments,location data may be provided by a merchant device to the POS systemindicating the location of consumer devices within their retaillocation. In some embodiments, location data may be provided by merchantdevices to indicate the current location of the merchant (e.g., a foodtruck or delivery service). It should be appreciated that location datamay be provided by various systems capable of determining locationinformation, including, but not limited to, global positioning servicereceivers, indoor navigation systems, cellular tower triangulationtechniques, video surveillance systems, or radio frequencyidentification (RFID) location systems.

As used herein, the term “communication channel data” refers toelectronic information relating to the particular device orcommunication channel upon which a merchant or consumer communicateswith the POS service. In this regard, communication channel data mayinclude the type of device used by the consumer or merchant (e.g., smartphone, desktop computer, laptop, netbook, tablet computer), the InternetProtocol (IP) address of the device, the available bandwidth of aconnection, login credentials used to access the channel (e.g., a useraccount and/or password for accessing the POS service), or any otherdata pertaining to the communication channel between the POS service andan entity external to the POS service.

As used herein, the term “discretionary data” refers to electronicinformation provided by a merchant or consumer explicitly to the POSservice in support of improved interaction with the POS service. Uponregistering with the POS service or at any time thereafter, the consumeror merchant may be invited to provide information that aids the POSservice in providing services that are targeted to the particular needsof the consumer or merchant. For example, the discretionary data mayinclude any suitable consumer information that can be used, such asconsumer information related to health (e.g., undesirable ingredientssuch as allergy information, weight, blood pressure, etc.), habitinformation, consumer status, apparel size (e.g., shoe size, clothingsize, etc.), color blindness, visual impairment, auditory impairment,price flexibility or price bands, transaction data (e.g., indicatingpast purchases), and/or environmental data (e.g., preferred weather,temperature, humidity, precipitation, etc.). A merchant may indicate thetype of goods or services provided, their retail storefront location,ingredients or recipes for menu items, menu information, employeeinformation, contact information, hours of operation, or the like.

It should be appreciated that the term “discretionary data” is intendedto refer to information voluntarily and explicitly provided to the POSservice, such as by completing a form or survey on a website orapplication hosted by the POS service. However, it should be appreciatedthat the examples of discretionary data provided above may also bedetermined implicitly or through review or analysis of other electronicmarketing information provided to the POS service. It should also beappreciated that the POS service may also gate access to certainfeatures or tools based on whether certain discretionary data has beenprovided. For example, the consumer may be required to provideinformation relating to their interests or location during aregistration process.

As used herein, the term “real-time consumer device signals” refers toelectronic information generated by sensor circuitry of a consumerdevice. For example, the sensor circuitry may include one or moreenvironmental sensors (e.g., temperature, humidity, etc.), biologicalsensors (e.g., thermometer, heart rate monitor), visual sensors (e.g., afront facing camera configured to capture consumer expressions and/orgestures), and/or motion sensors (e.g., accelerometer, gyroscope, etc).

As used herein, the term “offering parameters” refers to terms andconditions under which a promotion is offered by a POS service toconsumers. These offering parameters may include parameters, bounds,considerations and/or the like that outline or otherwise define theterms, timing, constraints, limitations, rules or the like under whichthe promotion is sold, offered, marketed, or otherwise provided toconsumers. Example offering parameters include, using the aforementionedrestaurant as the example provider, limit one instrument per person,total of 100 instruments to be issued, a run duration of when thepromotion will be marketed via the POS service, and parameters foridentifying consumers to be offered the promotion (e.g., factorsinfluencing how consumer locations are used to offer a promotion).

As used herein, the term “redemption parameters” refers to terms andconditions for redeeming or otherwise obtaining the benefit ofpromotions obtained from a POS service. The redemption parameters mayinclude parameters, bounds, considerations and/or the like that outlinethe term, timing, constraints, limitations, rules or the like for howand/or when an instrument may be redeemed. For example, the redemptionparameters may include an indication that the instrument must beredeemed prior to a specified deadline, for a specific good, service orexperience and/or the like. For example, using the aforementionedrestaurant as the example provider, the redemption parameters mayspecify a limit of one instrument per visit, that the promotion must beused in store only, or that the promotion must be used by a certaindate.

As used herein, the term “promotion content” refers to display factorsor features that influence how the promotion is displayed to consumers.For example, promotion content may include an image associated with thepromotion, a narrative description of the promotion or the merchant, adisplay template for association with the promotion, or the like. Forexample, merchant data indicators (defined below) may be used toidentify promotion offers that were generated by merchants with similarcharacteristics to the merchant data indicators. Various other factorsmay be used to generate the promotion offer, such as the success of thepromotion offers generated by the merchants with similarcharacteristics, the product availability of the merchant, and the like.

As used herein, the term “promotion component” is used to refer toelements of a particular promotion that may be selected during apromotion generation process. Promotion components may include anyaspect of a promotion, including but not necessarily limited to offeringparameters, redemption parameters, and promotion content. For example,promotion components may include, but are not limited to, promotiontitles, promotion ledes (e.g., a short text phrase displayed under apromotion title), promotion images, promotion prices, promotion discountlevels, promotion style sheets, promotion fonts, promotion e-mailsubjects, promotion quantities, promotion fine print options, promotionfees assessed to the merchant by the POS service, or the like. Promotioncomponents may also include various flags and settings associated withregistration and verification functions for a merchant offering thepromotion, such as whether the identity of the merchant has beenverified, whether the merchant is registered with the POS service, orthe like.

As used herein, the term “electronic marketing communication” refers toany electronically generated information content provided by the POSservice to a consumer for the purpose of marketing a promotion, good, orservice to the consumer. Electronic marketing communications may includeany email, short message service (SMS) message, web page, applicationinterface, or the like electronically generated for the purpose ofattempting to sell or raise awareness of a product, service, promotion,or merchant to the consumer.

It should be appreciated that the term “electronic marketingcommunication” implies and requires some portion of the content of thecommunication to be generated via an electronic process. For example, atelephone call made from an employee of the POS service to a consumerfor the purpose of selling a product or service would not qualify as anelectronic marketing communication, even if the identity of the callrecipient was selected by an electronic process and the call was dialedelectronically, as the content of the telephone call is not generated inan electronic manner. However, a so-called “robo-call” with contentprogrammatically selected, generated, or recorded via an electronicprocess and initiated by an electronic system to notify a consumer of aparticular product, service, or promotion would qualify as an electronicmarketing communication. Similarly, a manually drafted e-mail sent froman employee of the POS service to a consumer for the purpose ofmarketing a product would not qualify as an electronic marketingcommunication. However, a programmatically generated email includingmarketing materials programmatically selected based on electronicmarketing information associated with the recipient would qualify as anelectronic marketing communication.

As used herein, the term “business analytic data” refers to datagenerated by the POS service based on electronic marketing informationto assist with the operation of the POS service and/or one or moremerchant systems. The various streams of electronic marketinginformation provided to and by the POS service allow for the use ofsophisticated data analysis techniques that may be employed to identifycorrelations, relationships, and other associations among elements ofelectronic marketing information. These associations may be processedand formatted by the POS service to provide reports, recommendations,and services both internal to the POS service and to merchants in orderto improve the process by which merchants and POS service engage withconsumers.

For example, the POS service may analyze the electronic marketinginformation to generate customized menu interfaces that facilitateconsumer service. Based on the electronic marketing information, the POSservice may generate menus that are relevant to real-time preferences,conditions or habits of the consumer. Furthermore, the POS service mayidentify an increased demand for a particular product or service, andprovide an electronic report to a merchant suggesting the merchant offerthe particular product or service, or update the menu interface toinclude, recommend, or otherwise present the particular product orservice. In another example, the POS service may identify that aparticular product or service is not selling or resulting in themerchant losing money, customers, or market share (e.g., after consumersorder a particular menu item, they never come back to the merchant), andsuggest that the merchant should discontinue offering that product orservice or remove the product or service from the menu interface.

It should be appreciated that the term “business analytic data” isintended to refer to electronically and programmatically generated data.For example, a printed report or letter manually drafted by an employeeof the service would not be said to include business analytic data, evenif said data was used by the employee during the drafting process, whilea data disk or downloaded file containing analytics generated by the POSservice would be considered business analytic data. Human interactionrequires time, resources, introduces errors, and is incapable ofefficiently considering large data collections, and thus variousembodiments discussed herein include solutions to some or all of thesetechnical problems.

As used herein, “wallet identifying data,” “digital consumer token” or“consumer device token” refers to a key, code, identifier, or the like,that uniquely identifies a consumer device and/or consumer accountrecord. For example, consumer profiles and/or consumer information of aconsumer account record may be associated with a digital consumer token.The digital consumer token may be passed from consumer devices tomerchant devices, and used by the merchant devices to access consumerinformation associated with the digital consumer token (e.g., via anexchange with the POS service). As used herein, a “consumer accountrecord” refers to a record of consumer information stored in one or moreconsumer account databases of the POS service.

Technical Underpinnings and Implementation of Exemplary Embodiments

Merchants, including manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers, havespent a tremendous amount of time, money, manpower, and other resourcesto determine the best way to serve products and services to consumers.Whether a given consumer interaction is successful (at least from themerchant's perspective) is often determined based on thereturn-on-investment received to the merchant in terms of revenues,profits, and increased awareness of the merchant's goods and serviceswhen compared to the resources invested by the merchant to facilitatethe consumer interaction. To this end, a merchant's financial resourcesmay be spent in a variety of different manners including conductingmarket and consumer research, identifying consumers, tracking consumerpreferences, purchases, behaviors, or habits, training employees,offering targeted products or services, advertising, offering ofdiscounts, conducting market research, among other things. The end goalof these activities is to ensure that consumer information isprogrammatically leveraged during consumer and merchant interactionswhile minimizing the expense of the effort.

The advent of electronic commerce has revolutionized the marketingprocess. While merchants would typically have to perform costly marketresearch such as focus groups, surveys, and the like to obtain detailedinformation on consumer preferences and demographics, the digital agehas provided a wealth of new consumer information that may be used tooptimize the point-of-sale process. As a result, new technologies havebeen developed to gather, aggregate, analyze, and report informationfrom a variety of electronic sources.

So-called “clickstream data” or “electronic marketing data” provides arobust set of information describing the various interactions consumershave with electronic marketing information provided to them by merchantsand others. The POS service may be developed with sophisticatedtechnologies that are configured to receive and process this data forthe benefit of both merchants and consumers. The POS service may assistmerchants with marketing or otherwise presenting their products tointerested consumers, while reducing the chance that a consumer will bepresented with marketing or menu information in which the consumer hasno interest. The POS service may further leverage its access to thetrove of electronic marketing information to assist merchants andconsumers with other tasks, such as offering improved consumer profileand information management, improved merchant inventory and supply chainmanagement, improved point-of-sale interfaces and menu displays,improved methods for delivering products and services, improved consumerinterfaces for interacting with merchant data via consumer devices, andthe like.

Unlike conventional techniques related to the use of paper or otherphysical media (e.g., paper menus or merchant listings), the POS servicemay offer a wealth of additional electronic solutions to improve theexperience for consumers and merchants. The ability to closely monitorconsumer interactions (e.g., with impressions, transactions datagenerated at merchant locations, location data indicating consumerlocation, etc.) provides the ability for the POS service to gather datarelated to the time, place, and manner in which consumers engaged withthe electronic data (e.g., viewed, clicked, provided a payment via aconsumer device, approved a payment via a communication with a merchantdevice, moused-over an impression and obtained and redeemed thepromotion). The POS service may use this information to determine whichmerchants, products, and services are most relevant to the consumer'sinterest, and to provide consumer interfaces (e.g., including materialsrelated to said products and services) to the consumer, thus improvingthe efficiency of the electronic marketing communications received bythe consumer device. Advantageously, the techniques discussed hereinprovides for increased efficiency of network based communicationsthrough targeting of electronic data based on relevance. Similarly,electronic data that is less relevant or not relevant to the consumer isnot sent via the network to the consumer interfaces, thereby reducingsystem processing requirements and network congestion, and increasingthroughput of relevant electronic data via the network. The POS servicemay additionally or alternatively use this information to generatepoint-of-sale interfaces and menu displays that are targeted to theconsumer, thus improving the quality a consumer's experience at amerchant shop.

Although electronic marketing information provides a wealth ofinformation, the inventors have determined that existing techniques maynot always leverage or process this information in an efficient oraccurate manner. Technology continues to rapidly advance in the field ofanalytics and the processing of this information, offering improved datagathering and analysis techniques, resulting in more relevant andaccurate results provided in a more efficient manner. Point-of-saleservices continue to evolve and provide improved methods for engagingconsumers and spreading awareness of products offered by thepoint-of-sale services.

In many cases, the inventors have determined that these services areconstrained by technological obstacles unique to the electronic natureof the services provided, such as constraints on data storage, machinecommunication, interoperability, and processor resources. The inventorshave identified that the wealth of electronic data available to theseservices and the robust nature of point-of-sale techniques present newdata, network, and communication challenges never contemplated in theworld of paper menus and physical marketing techniques (e.g., papercoupons). The inventors have further determined that even technologicalmethods that leverage computers for statistical analysis and consumerbehavior modeling (e.g., television rating systems) fail to addressproblems associated with providing relevant, high quality point-of-saleand/or consumer interfaces in a manner that maximizes accuracy,minimizes error, is user friendly and provides for efficient allocationof resources. Embodiments of the present invention as described hereinserve to correct these deficiencies and offer improved resourceutilization, thus providing improvements to electronic point-of-saleand/or consumer interface services that address problems arising out ofthe electronic nature of those services. For example, variousembodiments may provide for hyperlocal consumer interfaces that areresponsive (e.g., in real-time) to consumer device locations as well asmerchant device activity, accurate and secure electronic authenticationof consumers with little or no direct consumer action, accurate captureof item level data associated with transactions, accurate item orpromotion targeting based on merchant and consumer information, sharingof consumer account data between merchants, among other things.

System Architecture and Example Apparatus

Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products of the presentinvention may be embodied by any of a variety of devices. For example,some embodiments may include a networked device, such as one or moreservers or other network entity, configured to communicate with one ormore devices, such as one or more client devices. A client device mayinclude a fixed computing device, such as a personal computer or acomputer workstation. In another example, a client device may include amobile terminals, such as a portable digital assistant (PDA), mobiletelephone, wearable device, smart watch, electronic eyewear, smartphone,laptop computer, tablet computer, or any combination of theaforementioned devices.

In this regard, FIG. 1 shows an example computing system 100 withinwhich embodiments of the present invention may operate. System 100 mayinclude POS service 102 including one or more servers 104 and one ormore database 106. POS service 102 may be connected with client devicesvia network 112 (e.g., the Internet), such as consumer devices 108A-108Nand merchant devices 110A-110N. The consumer devices 108A-108N may eachbe associated with different consumer accounts, such as based on POSservice receiving login data (e.g., username, password, biometricidentifier, etc.) associated with the consumer accounts from theconsumer devices. In some embodiments, consumer devices 108A-108N may bemobile devices such as smartphones that can be readily carried by theconsumer while remaining (e.g., at least intermittently) incommunication with the POS service 102 via network 112.

Server 104 may be a single server or may be multiple (e.g., distributed)servers, and may provide for the receiving of electronic data fromvarious sources, including but not necessarily limited to the consumerdevices 108A-108N and the merchant devices 110A-110N. For example, theserver 104 may be operable to receive and process electronic marketinginformation provided by the consumer devices 108 and/or the merchantdevices 110. The server 104 may also facilitate e-commerce transactionsbased on transaction information provided by the consumer devices 108and/or the merchant devices 110. For example, server 104 may generate aconsumer interface including an ambient map display as discussed hereinand provide the consumer interface to consumer devices. The server 104may facilitate the generation and providing of various point-of-saleinterfaces and menu displays, or electronic communications and marketingmaterials based on the received electronic data.

The database 106 may be embodied as one or more data storage devicessuch as a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device or devices, or as aseparate database server or servers. The database 106 may includeconsumer data and/or merchant data accessed and stored by the server 104to facilitate the operations of the POS service 102. In someembodiments, consumer data associated with consumer account records maybe stored in one or more consumer databases and merchant data associatedwith merchants may be stored in one or more separate merchant database.In some embodiments, the database 106 may include, without limitation,consumer account credentials for system administrators, one or moreconsumer profiles and related data (e.g., consumer preferences,information sharing rules, etc.), associations between consumer profilesand consumer identifying tokens, merchants, and consumers, dataindicating the products and promotions offered by the POS service, menuitem data, inventory data, employee information (e.g., skills,specializations, organizational role, shift or payroll data, backgroundor employee profile information, etc.) clickstream data, transactiondata, discretionary data, analytic results, reports, financial data,and/or the like.

The consumer devices 108A-108N may include computing device that areassociated with and/or operated by a consumer. Electronic data receivedby the server 104 from the consumer devices 108A-108N may be provided invarious forms and via various methods. As discussed above, a consumerdevice 108 may be a mobile device, such as a smart phone or tablet, theconsumer device 108 may execute a mobile device application (an “app” or“mobile app”) to interact with the POS service 102. Such apps aretypically designed to execute on mobile devices, such as tablets orsmartphones. For example, a mobile software application or “app” may beprovided that executes on mobile device operating systems such as AppleInc.'s iOS®, Google Inc.'s Android®, or Microsoft Inc.'s Windows 8®.These platforms typically provide operating system frameworks that allowapps to communicate with one another and with particular hardware andsoftware components of mobile devices. For example, the mobile operatingsystems named above each provide frameworks for interacting withlocation services circuitry, wired and wireless network interfaces, usercontacts, and other applications in a manner that allows for improvedinteractions between apps while also preserving the privacy and securityof consumers. In some embodiments, a mobile operating system may alsoprovide for improved communication interfaces for interacting withexternal devices (e.g., home automation systems, indoor navigationsystems, and the like). Communication with hardware and software modulesexecuting outside of the app is typically provided via applicationprogramming interfaces (APIs) provided by the mobile device operatingsystem.

The POS service 102 may leverage the application framework offered bythe mobile operating system to allow consumers to designate whichinformation is provided to the app and which information may then beprovided to the POS service 102. In some embodiments, consumers may “optin” to provide particular data to the POS service 102 in exchange for abenefit, such as improved relevancy of marketing communications offeredto the user. In some embodiments, the consumer may be provided withprivacy information and other terms and conditions related to theinformation provided to the POS service 102 during installation or useof the app. Once the consumer provides access to a particular feature ofthe mobile device, information derived from that feature may be providedto the POS service 102 to improve the quality of the consumer'sinteractions with the POS service and merchant devices.

For example, the consumer may indicate that they wish to providelocation information to the app from location services circuitryincluded in their mobile device. Providing this information to the POSservice 102 may enable the POS service 102 to provide consumerinterfaces that are relevant to the particular location of the consumerdevice (e.g., by providing promotions or other information for merchantsproximate to the consumer's current location). It should be appreciatedthat the various mobile device operating systems may provide the abilityto regulate the information provided to the app associated with the POSservice 102. For example, the consumer may decide at a later point todisable the ability of the app to access the location servicescircuitry, thus limiting the access of the consumer's locationinformation to the POS service 102.

Various other types of information may also be provided in conjunctionwith an app executing on the consumer's mobile device. For example, ifthe mobile device includes a social networking feature, the consumer mayenable the app to provide updates to the consumer's social network tonotify friends of a particularly interesting promotion, or leveragesocial networking data to generate or update consumer information (e.g.,one or more consumer profiles). It should be appreciated that the use ofmobile technology and associated app may provide for particularly uniqueand beneficial uses of the POS service through leveraging thefunctionality offered by the various mobile operating systems.

Additionally or alternatively, the consumer device 108 may interactthrough the POS service 102 via a web browser. As yet another example,the consumer device 108 may include various hardware or firmwaredesigned to interface with the POS service 102 (e.g., where the consumerdevice 108 is a purpose-built device offered for the primary purpose ofcommunicating with the POS service 102, such as a store kiosk).

The merchant devices 110A-110N may be computing devices that areassociated with and/or operated by a merchant. For example, the merchantdevices 110A-110N may include a merchant point-of-sale device, amerchant e-commerce server, a merchant inventory system, or a computingdevice accessing a web site or app designed and configured to providepoint-of-sale functionality (e.g., by accessing a POS service server 104through an app or a web page via a browser using a set of merchantaccount credentials). Electronic data received by POS service 102 fromthe merchant devices 110A-110N may also be provided in various forms andvia various methods. For example, the merchant devices 110A-110N mayprovide menu data or menu item data (e.g., items offered, ingredients,price, etc.), or real-time transaction data and/or inventory informationas purchases are made from the merchant. In other embodiments, themerchant devices 110A-110N may be employed to provide information to thePOS service 102 to enable the POS service 102 to generate promotions orother marketing information to be provided to consumer devices vianetwork 112.

An example of a data flow for exchanging electronic information amongone or more consumer devices, merchant devices, and the POS service isdescribed below with respect to FIG. 3.

Example Apparatus[es] For Implementing Embodiments of the PresentInvention

The server 104 may be embodied by one or more computing systems, such asapparatus 200 shown in FIG. 2. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the apparatus200 may include a processor 202, a memory 204, input/output circuitry206, communications circuitry 208, consumer interface service circuitry210, point-of-sale service circuitry 212, and data collection circuitry214. The apparatus 200 may be configured to execute the operationsdescribed above with respect to FIG. 1 and below with respect to FIG. 6.Although these components 202-214 are described with respect tofunctional limitations, it should be understood that the particularimplementations necessarily include the use of particular hardware. Itshould also be understood that certain of these components 202-214 mayinclude similar or common hardware. For example, two sets of circuitrymay both leverage use of the same processor, network interface, storagemedium, or the like to perform their associated functions, such thatduplicate hardware is not required for each set of circuitry. The use ofthe term “circuitry” as used herein with respect to components of theapparatus should therefore be understood to include particular hardwareconfigured to perform the functions associated with the particularcircuitry as described herein.

The term “circuitry” should be understood broadly to include hardwareand, in some embodiments, software for configuring the hardware. Forexample, in some embodiments, “circuitry” may include processingcircuitry, storage media, network interfaces, input/output devices, andthe like. In some embodiments, other elements of the apparatus 200 mayprovide or supplement the functionality of particular circuitry. Forexample, the processor 202 may provide processing functionality, thememory 204 may provide storage functionality, the communicationscircuitry 208 may provide network interface functionality, and the like.

In some embodiments, the processor 202 (and/or co-processor or any otherprocessing circuitry assisting or otherwise associated with theprocessor) may be in communication with the memory 204 via a bus forpassing information among components of the apparatus. The memory 204may be non-transitory and may include, for example, one or more volatileand/or non-volatile memories. In other words, for example, the memorymay be an electronic storage device (e.g., a computer readable storagemedium). The memory 204 may be configured to store information, data,content, applications, instructions, or the like, for enabling theapparatus to carry out various functions in accordance with exampleembodiments of the present invention.

The processor 202 may be embodied in a number of different ways and may,for example, include one or more processing devices configured toperform independently. Additionally or alternatively, the processor mayinclude one or more processors configured in tandem via a bus to enableindependent execution of instructions, pipelining, and/ormultithreading. The use of the term “processing circuitry” may beunderstood to include a single core processor, a multi-core processor,multiple processors internal to the apparatus, and/or remote or “cloud”processors.

In an example embodiment, the processor 202 may be configured to executeinstructions stored in the memory 204 or otherwise accessible to theprocessor. Alternatively or additionally, the processor may beconfigured to execute hard-coded functionality. As such, whetherconfigured by hardware or software methods, or by a combination thereof,the processor may represent an entity (e.g., physically embodied incircuitry) capable of performing operations according to an embodimentof the present invention while configured accordingly. Alternatively, asanother example, when the processor is embodied as an executor ofsoftware instructions, the instructions may specifically configure theprocessor to perform the algorithms and/or operations described hereinwhen the instructions are executed.

In some embodiments, the apparatus 200 may include input/outputcircuitry 206 that may, in turn, be in communication with processor 202to provide output to the user and, in some embodiments, to receive anindication of a user input. The input/output circuitry 206 may comprisea user interface and may include a display and may comprise a web userinterface, a mobile application, a client device, a kiosk, or the like.In some embodiments, the input/output circuitry 206 may also include akeyboard, a mouse, a joystick, a touch screen, touch areas, soft keys, amicrophone, a speaker, or other input/output mechanisms. The processorand/or user interface circuitry comprising the processor may beconfigured to control one or more functions of one or more userinterface elements through computer program instructions (e.g., softwareand/or firmware) stored on a memory accessible to the processor (e.g.,memory 204, and/or the like).

The communications circuitry 208 may be any means such as a device orcircuitry embodied in either hardware or a combination of hardware andsoftware that is configured to receive and/or transmit data from/to anetwork and/or any other device, circuitry, or module in communicationwith the apparatus 200. In this regard, the communications circuitry 208may include, for example, a network interface for enablingcommunications with a wired or wireless communication network. Forexample, the communications circuitry 208 may include one or morenetwork interface cards, antennae, buses, switches, routers, modems, andsupporting hardware and/or software, or any other device suitable forenabling communications via a network. Additionally or alternatively,the communication interface may include the circuitry for interactingwith the antenna(s) to cause transmission of signals via the antenna(s)or to handle receipt of signals received via the antenna(s).

As discussed in greater detail below, consumer interface servicecircuitry 210 include hardware configured to generate and/or provideconsumer interfaces to consumer devices. Point-of-sale service circuitry212 may include hardware configured to provide point-of-sale interfacesto merchant devices. For example, a point-of-sale interface for arestaurant merchant may include a menu display including selectable menuitems. In some embodiments, point-of-sale service circuitry 212 may befurther configured to facilitate menu item preparation, such as byproviding menu item data (e.g., indicating ingredients and/or amounts ofthe ingredients of a menu item) to a kitchen display. Data collectioncircuitry 214 may include hardware configured to collect electronicmarketing information (e.g., discretionary data, clickstream data,transaction data, consumer location data, real-time consumer devicesignals, etc.), which may be used by data collection circuitry 214 toupdate the consumer interface of a consumer device and/or a merchant POSinterface of a merchant device.

In some embodiments, circuitry 210-214 may utilize processing circuitry,such as the processor 202, to perform these actions. However, it shouldalso be appreciated that, in some embodiments, one or more ofcircuitries 210-214 may include a separate processor, speciallyconfigured field programmable gate array (FPGA), or application specificinterface circuit (ASIC). Circuitry 210-214 may therefore be implementedusing hardware components of the apparatus configured by either hardwareor software for implementing these programmatic functions.

As will be appreciated, any such computer program instructions and/orother type of code may be loaded onto a computer, processor or otherprogrammable apparatus's circuitry to produce a machine, such that thecomputer, processor other programmable circuitry that execute the codeon the machine create the means for implementing various functions,including those described herein.

It is also noted that all or some of the information presented by theexample displays discussed herein can be based on data that is received,generated and/or maintained by one or more components of apparatus 200.In some embodiments, one or more external systems (such as a remotecloud computing and/or data storage system) may also be leveraged toprovide at least some of the functionality discussed herein.

As described above and as will be appreciated based on this disclosure,embodiments of the present invention may be configured as methods,mobile devices, backend network devices, and the like. Accordingly,embodiments may comprise various means including entirely of hardware orany combination of software and hardware. Furthermore, embodiments maytake the form of a computer program product on at least onenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readableprogram instructions (e.g., computer software) embodied in the storagemedium. Any suitable computer-readable storage medium may be utilizedincluding non-transitory hard disks, CD-ROMs, flash memory, opticalstorage devices, or magnetic storage devices.

Consumer device(s) 108 may be embodied by one or more computing systems,such as apparatus 400 shown in FIG. 4. The depicted apparatus 400includes processor 402, memory 404, input/output circuitry 406,communications circuitry 408, and consumer interface circuitry 410. Theapparatus 400 may be configured to execute the operations describedherein with respect to FIGS. 1 and 6. The functioning of the processor402, the memory 404, the input/output circuitry 406, and thecommunication circuitry 408 may be similar to the similarly namedcomponents described above with respect to FIG. 2. For the sake ofbrevity, additional description of these components is omitted.

Consumer interface circuitry 410 may include hardware configured toprovide a consumer interface on device 400. In some embodiments,consumer interface circuitry 410 may communicate with consumer interfaceservice circuitry 214 of server 104 to provide the consumer interface.In some embodiments, consumer interface circuitry 410 may be configuredto perform some or all of the techniques discussed herein with respectto consumer interface service circuitry 210. For example, the consumerinterface circuitry 410 may receiver consumer device inputs via thenetwork and may process the consumer device inputs to programmaticallymanipulate the consumer display as discussed herein. In someembodiments, consumer interface circuitry 410 may be further configuredto generate consumer device location data indicating the location of aconsumer device and provide the consumer device location data to server104 as an input to the POS service 102. For example, consumer interfacecircuitry 410 may use cell-tower triangulation, global positioningsystems (GPS), internet protocol (IP) address, and/or any other suitabletechnique to determine the consumer device location data.

Merchant device(s) 110 may be embodied by one or more computing systems,such as apparatus 500 shown in FIG. 5. The depicted apparatus 500, whichmay be configured for use at a merchant location (e.g., a storefront,shop, restaurant, merchandise storage, warehouse, etc.), may includeprocessor 502, memory 504, input/output circuitry 506, communicationscircuitry 508, and point-of-sale circuitry 510. The functioning of theprocessor 502, the memory 504, the input/output circuitry 506, and thecommunication circuitry 508 may be similar to the similarly namedcomponents described above with respect to FIG. 2. For the sake ofbrevity, additional description of these components is omitted.

Point-of-sale circuitry 510 may include hardware configured to providethe point-of-sale interface on the merchant device. In some embodiments,point-of-sale circuitry 510 may communicate with point-of-sale servicecircuitry 214 of server 104. In some embodiments, point-of-salecircuitry 510 may be configured to perform some or all of the techniquesdiscussed herein with respect to point-of-sale service circuitry 214. Insome embodiments, point-of-sale circuitry 510 may be configured tofacilitate menu creation, inventory management, employee and enterprisemanagement functionality (e.g., time keeping, payroll, etc.), menu itemor inventory preparation, etc.

Example Service Data Flow

FIG. 3 depicts an example data flow 300 illustrating interactionsbetween a server 302, one or more consumer devices 304, and one or moremerchant devices 306. The server 302 may be implemented in the same or asimilar fashion as the server 104 as described above with respect toFIG. 1, the one or more consumer devices 304 may be implemented in thesame or a similar fashion as the consumer devices 108A-108N as describedabove with respect to FIG. 1, and the one or more merchant devices 306may be implemented in the same or a similar fashion as the merchantdevices 110A-110N as described above with respect to FIG. 1.

The data flow 300 illustrates how electronic information may be passedamong various systems when employing a server 302 in accordance withsome embodiments. The one or more consumer devices 304 and/or one ormore merchant devices 306 may provide a variety of electronic marketinginformation to the server 302 for use in providing the consumerinterface service to consumer devices. This electronic marketinginformation may include, but is not limited to, location data,clickstream data, transaction data, communication channel data, and/ordiscretionary data.

In some embodiments, server 302 may generate a digital consumer tokenassociated with one or more consumer profiles and provide the digitalconsumer token to consumer device 304. When consumer device 304 sharesthe digital consumer token with merchant device 306, which merchantdevice 306 may pass the digital consumer token to server 304. Inresponse, server 304 may return a point-of-sale interface configured tofacilitate consumer interactions based on the consumer informationassociated with the consumer profile. In another example, server 304 mayprovide consumer profile information and/or business analytic datarelevant to the consumer to merchant device 306 based on receiving thedigital consumer token identifying the consumer account or profile(s).In that sense, the POS service may allow a consumer carrying consumerdevice 304 to enter within a proximity of a merchant shop and/or toenter a merchant shop (e.g., with consumer device 304 being configuredto broadcast a digital consumer token) to receive personalized,customized or targeted service without requiring additional consumerinteractions with consumer device 304, the merchant, or merchant device306 that may interrupt, inconvenience or otherwise complicate thereal-time consumer merchant interaction.

In some embodiments, as a result of transactions performed between theone or more consumer devices 304 and the server 302, the server 302 mayprovide fulfillment data to the consumer devices. The fulfillment datamay include information indicating whether the transaction wassuccessful, the location and time the product will be provided to theconsumer, instruments for redeeming promotions purchased by theconsumer, or the like.

In addition to the e-commerce interactions with the one or more consumerdevices 304 offered by the server 302, the server 302 may leverageinformation provided by the consumer devices to improve the relevancy ofthe consumer interface provided to consumer device. For example, theserver 302 may determine promotions, goods, and services that are morelikely to be of interest to a particular consumer or group of consumersbased on clickstream data, discretionary data, transaction data,location data, and other information provided by and/or relating toparticular consumers. For example, the server 302 may detect thelocation of a consumer based on location data provided by the consumerdevice, and provide merchant information based on the proximity of theconsumer to the merchants.

Alternatively, the server 302 may note that the consumer has an interestin a particular hobby (e.g., skiing) based on electronic marketinginformation associated with the consumer (e.g., profile information,discretionary data provided by the consumer, clickstream data such as abrowser cookie that indicates they frequently visit websites thatprovide snowfall forecasts for particular ski resorts), priortransaction data, and offer promotions or items associated with thathobby (e.g., a promotion offering discounted ski equipment rentals orlift tickets). It should be appreciated that a variety of differenttypes of electronic marketing information could be provided to theserver 302 for the purpose of improving the relevancy of point-of-saleinterfaces and/or consumer interfaces (e.g., including electronicmarketing communications). It should also be appreciated that thiselectronic marketing information may be received from a variety ofelectronic sources, including various consumer devices, merchantdevices, and other sources both internal and external to a POS service.For example, other data sources may include imported contact databasesmaintained by merchants, electronic survey questions answered byconsumers, and/or various other forms of electronic data.

It should also be appreciated that the server 302 may also control otherfactors of the electronic marketing communications sent to the consumerother than the particular promotions included in the electronicmarketing communication. For example, the server 302 may determine theform, structure, frequency, and type of the electronic marketingcommunication. As with the content of the electronic marketingcommunication, these factors may be programmatically determinedaccording to various methods, factors, and processes based on electronicdata received by the server 302 for the purpose of maximize thelikelihood that the communication will be relevant to the recipientconsumer.

The server 302 interactions with the one or more merchant devices 306may be related to enabling the merchant to provide point-of-sale relatedservices to consumers using the POS service. For example, the one ormore merchant devices 306 may provide product data, menu item data,inventory data, and/or employee data to server 302. The sever 302 mayreceive this information and generate menu displays or point-of-saleinterfaces that may be provided to merchant devices 306 Additionally oralternatively, consumer interfaces, map displays, merchant displays,and/or menu displays may be provided to consumer devices 304, such asfor merchant browsing, online ordering, consumer self-service, etc.

In some embodiments, merchants may market their products using a POSservice. For example, the one or more merchant devices 306 may providepromotion data defining one or more promotions to be offered by the POSservice on behalf of the merchant. The server 302 may receive thepromotion data and generate electronic marketing communications forproviding such promotions via an e-commerce interface, making thepromotions available for purchase by consumers. The server 302 may alsoreceive product/inventory data about products from the one or moremerchant devices 306. For example, a merchant may product/inventory dataindicating particular products, product prices, inventory levels, andthe like to be marketed via a POS service. The server 302 may receivethis information and generate electronic marketing communications tooffer the products to consumers. As discussed in greater detail herein,the electronic marketing communications may take the form of a consumerinterface including ambient map displays of local merchants withindications of real-time merchant activity level, among other things.

The one or more merchant devices 306 may also receive information fromthe server 302. For example, in some embodiments a merchant may obtainaccess to certain consumer information and/or business analytic dataaggregated, generated, or maintained by the server 302. As a particularexample, a merchant's menu or point-of-sale interface may be customizedbased on the consumer information such as for ranking or ordering menuitems within the point-of-sale interface, removing menu items includingdisfavored ingredients, etc.

Ambient Discovery of Merchants

Some embodiments may provide consumer interfaces that include hyperlocalmerchant information to consumer devices via network. Hyperlocalinformation, as used herein, refers to information that is relevant to aparticular location and time. For example, a central system (e.g.,including one or more networked servers such as system 102) and/orconsumer device may be configured to provide a consumer interface to aconsumer device. The consumer interface may include a map display withan indication of local merchant locations. The system may communicatewith merchant devices associated with the local merchant locations toreceive transaction data. Based on the transaction data, the system maybe configured to programmatically determine relevant merchant statusesand activity and to provide such merchant information to the consumerinterface.

For example, when a consumer traverses a city while carrying theconsumer device, the consumer device may be configured to share locationdata indicating the location of the consumer device to the centralsystem. Based on the location data, the consumer interface may beupdated in real time to provide information associated with nearbymerchants. In some embodiments, based on transaction data, an activitylevel score for each merchant may be determined and indicated within theconsumer interface. Advantageously, such information may be leveraged byconsumers to match merchants with consumer interests. For example, thetransaction data may be used to determine an activity level score foreach merchant so that consumers can select between busier or quieterdine-in restaurant merchants.

FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of an example of a method 600 of providing aconsumer interface performed in accordance with some embodiments. Method600 is described as being performed by components of computing system100. For example, some or all of the steps of method 600 may beperformed by one or more servers 104 and/or a consumer device 108 ofsystem 100. In some embodiments, method 600 may be performed by one ormore other suitably configured servers, apparatuses, storage devices,routers, network switches, etc. Furthermore, it is appreciated that oneor more of the steps discussed herein as being performed by servers 104may be performed by a consumer device 108.

Method 600 may begin at 602 and proceed to 604, where one or moreservers 104 may be configured to communicate with merchant devices andconsumer devices via a network. For example, communications circuitry208 of one or more servers 104 may be configured to connect withmerchant devices 110A-N and consumer devices 108A-N via network 112(e.g., the internet). Merchant devices 110A-N may be associated with oneor more different merchants. In some embodiments, the connection betweenthe one or more servers 104 and a consumer device 108 may include awireless connection, such as a mobile broadband or other wirelessInternet connection. Here, the consumer device may be capable ofmaintaining (e.g., at least intermittently) the connection with the oneor more servers as the consumer is carrying the consumer device.

At 606, the one or more servers 104 may be configured to associate themerchant devices with a plurality of merchant device locations. Forexample, each of merchant devices 110A-N may be physically located at aparticular merchant device location such as a merchant's storefront,shop, restaurant, warehouse, etc. Server 104 may receive merchantlocation data from a merchant device 110, and may be configured todetermine the merchant device location based on the merchant locationdata received from merchant device 110. The merchant location data maybe determined using any suitable technique including cell-towertriangulation, global positioning systems (GPS), internet protocol (IP)address, or merchant device data input (e.g., in a registration orconfiguration process for the merchant device).

In some embodiments, server 104 may connect with merchant devicesassociated with multiple different merchants. As such, server 104 and orPOS service 102 may serve as a central system that providesinteroperability between merchant devices and consumer devices.Furthermore, server 104 and or POS service may act as an aggregator andprocessor of merchant and/or consumer data, and may leverage such datato provide “big data” analytics to smaller merchants that wouldotherwise be unable to procure or leverage such data.

In some embodiments, the associations between merchant devices andmerchant device locations may be stored in a merchant database, such asdatabase 106 of POS service 102. For example, each merchant device maybe associated with a merchant device identifier that uniquely identifiesthe merchant device. Furthermore, each merchant device may be associatedwith a merchant identifier that uniquely identifies the merchant, andthe merchant location data that indicates the location of the merchantdevice. In some embodiments, a single merchant or merchant location maybe associated with multiple merchant devices. For example, a restaurantmerchant may provide merchant devices to each member of the wait staffto facilitate point-of-sale functionality such as taking orders,creating tabs, facilitating payments, etc. In some embodiments, POSservice 102 may be configured to provide a POS interface to the merchantdevices to perform the point-of-sale functionality. Additional detailsregarding POS interfaces, applicable in some embodiments, are discussedin U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/794,529, titled “Consumer DeviceBased Point-Of-Sale,” filed Mar. 13, 2013, which is incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

At 608, the one or more servers 106 may be configured to associate aconsumer device with a consumer account. For example, the consumerdevice may be associated with a consumer account record of a consumerdatabase, such as database 106 of POS service 102. In some embodiments,the consumer device may be associated with the consumer account recordbased on server 106 receiving login data (e.g., username, password,biometric identifier, etc.) associated with the consumer account recordfrom the consumer device via the network. The login data may begenerated by the consumer device via a consumer device input (e.g., to atouchscreen, touch pad, keyboard, mouse, fingerprint reader, etc.), orin another example, may be stored within a memory of the consumer deviceand provided to server 106 without requiring the consumer device inputs.

At 610, the one or more servers 106 may be configured to receive, viathe network, transaction data from the merchant devices. The transactiondata may include electronic information indicating that a transaction isoccurring or has occurred at the merchant locations associated with themerchant devices. As discussed in greater detail below, the transactiondata received from a merchant device may be used to determine variousreal-time merchant statues, such as a merchant activity level scoreindicating the frequency of transaction and thus the real-time activitylevel of the merchant.

The merchant device may be configured to generate transaction data foreach transaction processed by the point-of-sale interface on themerchant device. In some embodiments, the transaction data may includesimply an indication of a completed transaction. The merchant devices110 may be configured to push the transaction data to the one or moreservers 106, such as in real-time as the transaction data is generatedby the point-of-sale functionality. Advantageously, the indication ofthe completed transaction does not require the networked transmission ofother transaction details that may otherwise congest the network,thereby providing increased efficiency of networked data transfers withgreater reliability and throughput.

In some embodiments, the transaction data may include additionalinformation such as consumer approval data (e.g., indicating consumerapproval of a payment), the item(s) purchased by the consumer, a paymentamount, consumer payment or billing information, etc. The transactiondata may further include a merchant rewards account number associatedwith the consumer (e.g., for reward tracking), the type of shippingselected by the consumer for fulfillment of the transaction (e.g., wherean item is to be shipped to the consumer), redemption data indicating aredemption of a promotion or reward, among other things. Here, the POSservice 102 may be configured to track the transaction data aselectronic marketing information to generate (e.g., targeted) electronicmarketing communications to consumer devices. Additionally oralternatively, the POS service 102 may be configured to facilitate theprocessing of payment data to complete transactions on behalf of themerchants.

In some embodiments, the transaction data may be secured with walletidentifying data. For example, the transaction data may include, beencrypted with, and/or electronically signed with a consumer devicetoken. The one or more servers 106 may generate the wallet identifyingdata and may provide the wallet identifying data to the consumer device.In the process of performing a transaction, the consumer device mayshare the wallet identifying data with a merchant device. When thesecured transaction data is received from the merchant device, server106 may be further configured to facilitate payments based on processingthe secured transaction data using wallet identifying data stored by thePOS service 102 (e.g., within database 106). Additional detailsregarding the creation of transaction data using wallet identifyingdata, applicable in some embodiments, are discussed in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/875,019, titled “Consumer Device BasedPoint-Of-Sale,” filed Mar. 12, 2013, U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/801,520, titled “Peer-to-peer payment processing,” filed Mar. 12,2013, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/764,753, titled “ConsumerDevice Payment Token Management,” each of which is incorporated byreference herein.

At 612, the one or more servers 106 may be configured to determine anactivity level score for each of the plurality of merchant locationsbased on the transaction data. The activity level score of a merchantlocation may be a “current activity level score” that indicates theamount of activity that is occurring in real-time at the merchantlocation. In that sense, the activity level score may provide anindication as to whether a merchant location (e.g. a restaurant, venue,etc.) is lively or quiet. In some embodiments, the activity level scoremay be a “projected activity level score” that indicates an estimate orprediction regarding the amount of activity that will occur at a futuretime at the merchant location. As discussed in greater detail below, theactivity level score of a merchant location may be provided via aconsumer interface to consumer devices based on consumer devicelocation.

In some embodiments, the activity level score may be determined based onan average rate of received transaction data instances for apredetermined period of time. For example, a current activity levelscore may be determined by evaluating transaction data associated withthe most recent predetermined period of time that has been received froma merchant device. For example, the activity level score may bedetermined by tracking the number of instances of transaction datareceived by the one or more servers 106 from one or more merchant devicein the past hour. Thus a higher activity level score may indicate agreater number of transactions within the predetermined time (e.g., thepast hour) while a lower activity level score may indicate a smallernumber of transactions within the predetermined time. Other periods oftime may be used, such as 10 minutes, 20 minutes, two hours, day, etc.In another example, a projected activity level score may be determinedby using transaction data associated with a representative predeterminedperiod of time to a future time.

In some embodiments, the activity level score may be a projectedactivity level score determined by using transaction data associatedwith one or more predetermined periods of time that is representative ofa future time. For example, the one or more servers 106 may beconfigured to track the transaction data associated with a merchant ormerchant location received from one or more associated merchant devicesover time. Based on the tracked transaction data, an estimated orexpected activity level may be determined. For example, the activitylevel of a merchant location can be tracked for the hours between 11 AMand 2 PM to determine an estimated or expected activity level of arestaurant merchant during lunchtime. As such, when the current time isdetermined to be applicable to the tracking time (e.g., the lunchtimehours), server 106 may determine the activity level for lunchtime of themerchant location accordingly. In addition or alternative to trackingbased on time of day, the tracking may be performed based on othercriteria such as the day of the week, the time of month or year (e.g.,for merchants affected by seasonality), holidays, special events (e.g.,a local concert, game day at a nearby stadium), etc. For example, if thecurrent day is Tuesday, transaction data from one or more previousTuesdays might be used. In another example, if the current time is 4 PMand its Monday thru Thursday, then transaction data from other week daysat that time may be used. In yet another example, local event data(i.e., an event at a nearby venue ends at 6 PM) or seasonality (i.e.,summer activity for certain locations could be quite different thanwinter activity) data may also be used to determine an activity levelscore for a current or projected time.

In some embodiments, the activity level score may include an average orother algorithmic transformation of both the average rate of receivedtransaction data for a predetermined period of time preceding thecurrent time and the estimated activity level for the current time.

In some embodiments, the activity level score may be determined based onfactors other than or in additional to the number of transaction pertime. For example, the server may be configured to determine theactivity level score based on the values of the transactions indicatedby the transaction data. Here, a higher activity level score mayindicate a greater volume of sale revenue in terms of dollars or othercredits. In another example, the activity level score may be based onthe number of consumer devices that enter and/or come within proximityto a merchant shop per time. For example, a consumer device may beconfigured to transfer wallet identifying data to a merchant deviceand/or communication beacon located at a merchant shop viaproximity-based wireless direct connection with the merchant deviceand/or communication beacon. Some suitable technologies that may be usedto facilitate the transfer or the wallet identifying data (or otherconsumer device identifier) may include Bluetooth LTE, WiFi accesspoint, and/or near field communication. Additional details regardingconsumer device location tracking at a merchant location, applicable insome embodiments, are discussed in U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/248,676, titled “Communication Beacon Based Promotions for MobileDevices,” filed Apr. 9, 2014, which is incorporated by reference hereinin its entirety.

At 614, the one or more servers 106 may be configured to receive, viathe network and from the consumer device, consumer device location dataindicating a consumer device location of the consumer device. Asdiscussed above, the consumer device location data may be determinedusing any suitable technique including cell-tower triangulation, globalpositioning systems (GPS), internet protocol (IP) address, consumerdevice inputs, receiving wallet identifying data from a merchant device(e.g., that received the wallet identifying data from a nearby consumerdevice) associated with a merchant location, etc. In some embodiments,the one or more servers 106 may receive the consumer device locationdata from consumer devices 108 via network 112.

At 616, the one or more servers 106 may be configured to determine oneor more local merchant locations proximate to the consumer devicelocation. The determination of local merchant locations may, at least inpart, include comparing the consumer device location with the pluralityof merchant locations. The one or more local merchant locationsproximate to the consumer device location may include a subset of themerchant device locations that are associated with merchant devices at604.

In some embodiments, the local merchant locations that are “proximate”to the consumer device location may include merchant locations thatsatisfy a distance threshold with respect to the consumer devicelocation. The distance threshold may include default or predefinedproximities (e.g., 1 mile, 3 miles, 5 miles, etc.) and/or may includeuser defined proximities, such as may be determined based on receivedconsumer device inputs to the consumer interface.

As discussed above, the consumer device location may be determined basedon the consumer device location data received at 614 and the merchantlocations may be determined as discussed at 606. The distance thresholdmay be a predetermined distance (e.g., 1 mile, 5 miles, etc.) which maybe set by consumer device inputs to the consumer interface as discussedbelow, or may be otherwise determined by server 106 and/or consumerdevice 108. In some embodiments, the distance threshold may bedetermined based on determining the travel speed of the consumer device.For example, server 106 may poll the consumer device over time todetermine consumer device locations, and based on the locations and theassociated times, may be configured to determine the travel speed. Forexample, the travel speed may be determined based on determining changesin location for a predetermined period of time, and then determining thetravel speed based on the total change in distance divided by the totaltime in which the consumer traveled the distance. A travel speed ofaround 3 miles per hour, for example, may indicate that the consumer iswalking while carrying the consumer device. As such, the distancethreshold may be set to a value (e.g., less than 1 mile) such that thewalking consumer is only presented with local merchant locations withina walking distance. In another example, the distance threshold may beset to a greater value (e.g., less than 3 miles) for a travel speed ofaround 15 miles per hour, which may indicate that the consumer is ridinga bike. In yet another example, the distance threshold may be set to aneven greater value (e.g., less than 10 miles) for a travel speed ofgreater than 30 miles per hour, which may indicate that the consumer isriding in an automobile. Advantageously, the determination of the travelspeed provides for improved accuracy in programmatic determinations oflocation-based relevance than simply using a (e.g., current) location.Furthermore, when the travel speed is based on real-time consumer devicelocation polling, the system is able to automatically account forchanges in travel speed (e.g., without requiring and consumer deviceuser inputs), and may adjust the distance threshold in real-timeaccordingly. For example, the system may determine that a commutingconsumer rides bike to a bus station, then rides a bus to a trainstation, then takes a bus to the destination, and may provideindications of relevant merchants along the travel path of the consumerthat the consumer likely would be able or willing to reach using thecurrent mode of transportation and/or travel speed.

In some embodiments, the distance threshold may be set based on consumerdevice input. For example, the consumer device input may indicate themode of transportation for the consumer. The consumer may indicate viathe consumer interface that the consumer is walking, riding a bike,riding in an automobile, etc. or has access to such modes oftransportation. In another example, the distance threshold may be setbased on consumer device inputs that manipulate an ambient map displayof a consumer interface as discussed in further detail below.

In some embodiments, the one or more local merchants may be determinedfrom the plurality of candidate merchants based factors in addition oralternative to location, such as merchant category and/or relevance tothe consumer. A merchant category may define the type of product orservice offered by the merchant, such as restaurant, retail shop, spa,etc. In some embodiments, the one or more servers 106 may receiveconsumer device inputs generated via the consumer interface indicating aselected merchant category and may determine the one or more localmerchants based on a comparison of the consumer device inputs withmerchant data (e.g., stored in database 106). In some embodiments, theone or more servers 106 may programmatically determine merchant categoryand/or relevance, such as based on processing electronic marketinginformation associated with consumer devices and/or merchant devices asdiscussed above. In that sense, the merchants shown within an ambientmap display may be responsive to the status of the consumer in terms oflocation, time, preferences, etc.

At 618, the one or more servers 106 may be configured to generate aconsumer interface including an ambient map display. As discussed ingreater detail below in connection with FIGS. 7-11, ambient map displaymay include one or more local merchant indicators associated with theone or more local merchants. Furthermore, at least one of the one ormore local merchant locations indicators may be visually enhanced basedthe activity level score (and/or some other indicator of consumeractivity at the merchant location) for the one or more local merchantlocation. For example, the ambient map display may include a graphicalrepresentation of a map with the one or more local merchant locationindicators within the map that indicate the activity level scores.

At 620, the one or more servers 106 may be configured to provide, viathe network, the consumer interface to the consumer device. The consumerdevice may be a thin client device that receives display outputs andprovides consumer device inputs to the one or more servers forinteraction with the consumer interface. In some embodiments, theconsumer device may be configured to generate the consumer interface.Here, the one or more servers may provide input data such as transactiondata, merchant data, merchant location data, activity level scores, etc.to the consumer device and the consumer device may generate the consumerinterface as discussed herein for the one or more servers. FIGS. 7-11show example electronic displays that may be provided to the consumerinterface on the consumer device. FIG. 7 shows an example home display700 of the consumer device in accordance with some embodiments. Homedisplay 700 may be provided by the mobile operating system of theconsumer device and may include one or more electronic buttonsrepresenting different communication channels through which the consumerinterface may be accessed on the consumer device. As such, home display700 may include mobile application button 702, mobile browser button704, email button 706, and/or text message button 708. In response toconsumer device inputs (e.g., touchscreen inputs) indicating theselection of one or more buttons 702-708, server 106 may be configuredto provide the ambient map display to the consumer interface.

FIG. 8 shows an example of an ambient map display 800 in accordance withsome embodiments. Ambient may display 800 may include a map 802 and oneor more local merchant location indicators 804 within map 802. FIG. 9shows another example of an ambient map display 900 in accordance withsome embodiments. Ambient may display 900 may include a map 902 and oneor more local merchant location indicators 904 within map 902. Withreference to FIGS. 8 and 9, the local merchant location indicators 804and 904 may be represented with an icon, such as the location markersshown in ambient map display 800 or the dots shown in ambient mapdisplay 900. In some embodiments, the size and/or shape of the localmerchant location indicators may be adjusted based on the number ofmerchants displayed within the map, the zoom level (e.g., and/ordistance threshold) of the map, among other things to provide enhancedclarity of the presentation.

As discussed above, an ambient map display may further provide anindication of the activity level score for each of the one or more localmerchant locations. For example, at least one of the local merchantindicators (or “merchant indicators”) within an ambient map display maybe visually enhanced based on the activity level score. In someembodiments, the activity level score may be represented by a blink ratefor the local merchant location indicators. For example, a higheractivity level score may be associated with a faster blink rate while alower activity level score may be associated with a slower blink rate.Additionally or alternatively, other visual indictors may be used suchas the size or color of the local merchant location indicator. Forexample, a higher activity level score may be associated with a largersize, or a brighter/higher energy color.

As used herein, a “visually enhanced” merchant indicator refers topresenting, emphasizing, altering, or enhancing one or more features ofthe merchant location indicator, via an interface (e.g., the consumerinterface), in order to convey information associated with a merchantrepresented by the merchant location indicator. A visually enhancedmerchant indicator may change or modify a common feature shared by oneor more merchant indicators. For example, a visually enhanced merchantindicator may be used to indicate a relationship between two or moremerchant indicators, such as a relative activity level score between themerchants represented by the two or more merchant indicators. In anotherembodiment, a visually enhanced merchant indicator may identify asuggested merchant indicator as distinct from one or more merchantindicators. A visually enhanced merchant indicator may also be used toconvey objective information about a merchant represented by themerchant indicator, such as promotion or item data. In some embodiments,the visually enhanced merchant indicator may be presented as a visualindication, and/or in combination with an audio (e.g., beep) indicationor tactile (e.g., vibration) indication.

In some embodiments, a local merchant location indicator may beconfigured to blink for each instance of transaction data received byserver 106 from merchant devices associated with the merchant location.Here, the local merchant location indicator blink rate (or other visualindicator) may indicate the frequency of transactions using transactiondata generated through real-time consumer activity at the merchantlocation (e.g., without any averaging or estimating over time).

In some embodiments, the one or more servers 106 may be furtherconfigured to provide a consumer device location indicator to theambient map display. For example, ambient map display 900 may includeconsumer device location indicator 906 within the map 902. Here, theconsumer interface may provide an indication of the consumer locationrelative to the one or more displayed merchant locations. In someembodiments, the consumer device location indicator 906 may be centeredon the map 902 as displayed in the ambient map display 900 and may beupdated in real-time based on polling consumer device location changes.

Advantageously, the visually enhanced merchant indicators of the ambientmap display provides an interface particularly adapted for mobileconsumer devices. Mobile consumer devices, such as smartphones,navigation devices, or wearables, often include design constraints asdictated by the need for mobility. Some design constraints includesingle displays with small screen size, as well as the types of userinput devices that are available (e.g., touch screen). Here, the ambientmap display and merchant indicators may be integrated with a navigationinterface to reduce the need for simultaneous multiple applicationcontrol and interfacing. For example, the control of multipleapplications on conventional mobile devices (e.g., separate navigationand consume interfaces) is particularly cumbersome, often requiring theuse of a home button, or the like, to exit a current application andenter a mobile operating system desktop display with application icons,and then selection of a particular application icon to bring a secondapplication to the foreground. The ambient map display may provide forthe reduction of consumer inputs required to perform complexinteractions on a mobile device while executing a navigation process,which may be particularly advantageous in the context of a traveling orotherwise multi-tasking consumer. Furthermore, additional interfaceefficiencies may be achieved because travel path rerouting based on aselected merchant indicator may be provided to the ambient map displayas discussed in greater detail below.

At 622, the one or more servers 106 may be configured to determinewhether to consumer selected a merchant location indicator within theambient map display. For example, the local merchant location indicators804 and 904 within ambient map displays 800 and 900 respectively mayeach be electronic buttons that provide references or links toadditional merchant information. In some embodiments, consumer selectionof a merchant location indicator may be provided via consumer deviceinputs to a touchscreen of the consumer device. However, one or moreother types of consumer inputs may also be used such as keyboard inputs,voice inputs, mouse inputs, etc.

In response to determining that the consumer has selected a merchantlocation indicator, method 600 may proceed to 622, where the one or moreservers 106 may be configured to provide a merchant display to theconsumer interface. FIG. 10 shows an example of a merchant display 1000in accordance with some embodiments. For example, in response to theconsumer selecting local merchant indicator 1004 within map 1002, server106 may be configured to provide the merchant display 1000 includingmerchant data overlay 1002. Merchant data overlay 1002 may includedirections button 1006, call button 1008, and merchant data 1010. Callbutton 1008 may be associated with the telephone number of the merchantlocation, and selection of the call button 1008 may result in theinitiation of a telephone dialing process on the consumer device to theassociated telephone number. Directions button 1006, when selected, mayresult in server 106 providing a directions display to the consumerinterface.

FIG. 11 shows an example of a directions display 1100 in accordance withsome embodiments. Directions display 1100 may be configured to providean indication an optimal or recommended path 1106 from the consumerdevice location 1102 to the selected merchant location 1104 within amap. Direction display 1100 may further include distance indicator 1108,indicating the distance from consumer device location 1102 to theselected merchant location 1104 along path 1106, and arrival timeindicator 1110 indicating an estimated travel time from consumer devicelocation 1102 to the selected merchant location 1104 along path 1106. Insome embodiments, the path 1106, distance, and estimated travel time maybe determined based on the travel speed and/or mode of transportation ofthe consumer. For example, the path for a consumer traveling by foot mayinclude sidewalks or walkways that are otherwise inaccessible by anautomobile.

Returning to 622, in response to determining that the consumer has notselected a merchant location indicator within the ambient map display,method 600 may return to 614, where the one or more servers may beconfigured to continue to receive, via the network and from the consumerdevice, consumer device location data indicating a consumer devicelocation of the consumer device. Here, server 106 may be configured topoll the consumer device for the consumer device location, such as atpredetermined times. In another example, the consumer device may beconfigured to push the consumer device location to the server 106.Server 106 may use the updated consumer device locations to generateand/or update the consumer interface at 616-622 as discussed above.Method 600 may then proceed to 624 and end.

CONCLUSION

Many modifications and other embodiments will come to mind to oneskilled in the art to which these embodiments pertain having the benefitof the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and theassociated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that embodimentsand implementations are not to be limited to the specific exampleembodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments areintended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a genericand descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

1. A system, comprising: one or more servers including: communicationcircuitry configured to communicate with consumer devices and merchantdevices via a network, wherein the merchant devices are associated witha plurality of merchant locations; and processing circuitry configuredto: receive, via the network, transaction data from the merchantdevices; receive, via the network and from the consumer device, consumerselected merchant category input indicating a consumer selected merchantcategory; identify a merchant category for each of the plurality ofmerchant locations; determine an activity level score for each of theplurality of merchant locations based on the transaction data; receive,via the network and from a consumer device, consumer device locationdata indicating a consumer device location of the consumer device;determine, at least in part by comparing the consumer device locationand the plurality of merchant locations, and by comparing the merchantcategory for each of the plurality of merchant locations with theconsumer selected merchant category, one or more local merchantlocations associated with the consumer selected merchant category;generate a consumer interface including an ambient map display, whereinthe ambient map display comprises one or more local merchant locationindicators associated with the one or more local merchant locations, andwherein at least one of the one or more local merchant locationindicators is visually enhanced based on the activity level score forthe one or more local merchant locations; and provide the consumerinterface to the consumer device via the network.
 2. The system of claim1, wherein the processing circuitry configured to determine the one ormore local merchant includes processing circuitry being configured to:determine a distance threshold; and determine the one or more localmerchant locations from the plurality of merchant locations based ondetermining that the one or more local merchant locations are within thedistance threshold to the consumer device location.
 3. The system ofclaim 2, wherein the processing circuitry configured to determine thedistance threshold includes the processing circuitry being configuredto: determine, based on the consumer device location data a travel speedof the consumer device; and determine the distance threshold based onthe travel speed of the consumer device.
 4. The system of claim 2,wherein the processing circuitry configured to determine the distancethreshold includes the processing circuitry being configured to:receive, via the network and from the consumer device, consumer deviceinput indicating a mode of transportation; and determine the distancethreshold based on the mode of transportation.
 5. The system of claim 2,wherein the processing circuitry configured to determine the distancethreshold includes the processing circuitry being configured to:determine, based on the consumer device location data, a mode oftransportation; and determine the distance threshold based on the modeof transportation.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the processingcircuitry configured to determine the activity level score for each ofthe plurality of merchant locations based on the transaction dataincludes the processing circuitry being configured to determine, basedon the transaction data, an average rate of received transaction datainstances for a predetermined period of time.
 7. The system of claim 1,wherein the processing circuitry configured to determine the activitylevel score for each of the plurality of merchant locations based on thetransaction data includes the processing circuitry being configured todetermine, based on the transaction data, a projected activity level. 8.The system of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry configured todetermine the activity level score for each of the plurality of merchantlocations based on the transaction data includes the processingcircuitry being configured to determine, based on the transaction data,a current activity level.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein: thetransaction data from the merchant devices indicate consumer deviceinteractions with merchant devices via wireless direct connections; andthe processing circuitry configured to determine the activity levelscore for each of the plurality of merchant locations based on thetransaction data includes the processing circuitry being configured todetermine the activity level score based on the consumer deviceinteractions associated with each of the plurality of merchantlocations.
 10. The system of claim 1, wherein: the transaction dataincludes an indication of a completed transaction; and the processingcircuitry is further configured to, for each completed transaction of alocal merchant location, provide an indication of the completedtransaction as a visual enhancement to a local merchant indicatorassociated with the local merchant location.
 11. The system of claim 1,wherein the at least one of the one or more local merchant locationindicators is visually enhanced with blink rates that are variable basedon the activity level scores.
 12. The system of claim 1, wherein theprocessing circuitry is further configured to, in response to receivingconsumer device input indicating a selection of a local merchantlocation indicator, provide a merchant display to the consumer interfaceincluding merchant data of a local merchant location associated with thelocal merchant location indicator.
 13. The system of claim 1, whereinthe processing circuitry is further configured to display, within theconsumer interface, a travel path extending from the consumer devicelocation to a local merchant location associated with a local merchantlocation indicator.
 14. A machine-implemented method, comprising:receiving, by processing circuitry of one or more servers connected withmerchant devices and consumer devices via a network, transaction datafrom the merchant devices; determining, by the processing circuitry, anactivity level score for each of the plurality of merchant locationsbased on the transaction data; receiving, by the processing circuitryvia the network and from a consumer device, consumer device locationdata indicating a consumer device location of the consumer device;receiving, by the processing circuitry via the network and from theconsumer device, consumer selected merchant category input indicating aconsumer selected merchant category; identifying a merchant category foreach of the plurality of merchant locations determining, by theprocessing circuitry and at least in part by comparing the consumerdevice location and the plurality of merchant locations, and bycomparing the merchant category for each of the plurality of merchantlocations with the consumer selected merchant category, one or morelocal merchant locations associated with the consumer selected merchantcategory; generating, by the processing circuitry a consumer interfaceincluding an ambient map display, wherein the ambient map displaycomprises one or more local merchant location indicators associated withthe one or more local merchant locations, and wherein at least one ofthe one or more local merchant location indicators is visually enhancedbased on the activity level score for the one or more local merchantlocations; and providing, by the processing circuitry, the consumerinterface to the consumer device via the network.
 15. The method ofclaim 14, wherein determining the one or more local merchant locationsincludes: determining a distance threshold; and determining the one ormore local merchant locations from the plurality of merchant locationsbased on determining that the one or more local merchant locations arewithin the distance threshold to the consumer device location.
 16. Themethod of claim 15, wherein determining the distance threshold includes,by the processing circuitry: determining, based on the consumer devicelocation data a travel speed of the consumer device; and determining thedistance threshold based on the travel speed of the consumer device. 17.The method of claim 15, wherein determining the distance thresholdincludes, by the processing circuitry: receiving, via the network andfrom the consumer device, consumer device input indicating a mode oftransportation; and determining the distance threshold based on the modeof transportation.
 18. The method of claim 15, wherein determining thedistance threshold includes, by the processing circuitry: determining,based on the consumer device location data, a mode of transportation;and determining the distance threshold based on the mode oftransportation.
 19. The method of claim 14, wherein determining theactivity level score for each of the plurality of merchant locationsbased on the transaction data includes determining, based on thetransaction data, an average rate of received transaction data instancesfor a predetermined period of time.
 20. The method of claim 14, whereindetermining the activity level score for each of the plurality ofmerchant locations based on the transaction data includes determining,based on the transaction data, a projected activity level.
 21. Themethod of claim 14, wherein: the transaction data from the merchantdevices indicate consumer device interactions with merchant devices viawireless direct connections; and determining the activity level scorefor each of the plurality of merchant locations based on the transactiondata includes determining the activity level score based on the consumerdevice interactions associated with each of the plurality of merchantlocations.
 22. The method of claim 14, wherein: the transaction dataincludes an indication of a completed transaction; and the methodfurther includes, by the processing circuitry and for each completedtransaction of a local merchant location, providing an indication of thecompleted transaction as a visual enhancement to a local merchantindicator associated with the local merchant location.
 23. The method ofclaim 14, wherein the at least one of the one or more local merchantlocation indicators is visually enhanced with blink rates that arevariable based on the activity level scores.
 24. The method of claim 14further comprising, by the processing circuitry and in response toreceiving consumer device input indicating a selection of a localmerchant location indicator, providing a merchant display to theconsumer interface including merchant data of a local merchant locationassociated with the local merchant location indicator.
 25. The method ofclaim 14 further comprising, by the processing circuitry, displayingwithin the consumer interface a travel path extending from the consumerdevice location to a local merchant location associated with a localmerchant location indicator.
 26. The system of claim 1, wherein theprocessing circuitry configured identify a merchant category for each ofthe plurality of merchant locations includes the processing circuitrybeing configured to: retrieve stored merchant data; and determine themerchant category for each of the plurality of merchant locations basedon the stored merchant data.
 27. The system of claim 1, wherein theprocessing circuitry configured identify a merchant category for each ofthe plurality of merchant locations includes the processing circuitrybeing configured to: receive the merchant category for each of theplurality of merchant locations.
 28. The method of claim 14, whereinidentifying the merchant category for each of the plurality of merchantlocations includes, by the processing circuitry: retrieving storedmerchant data; and determining the merchant category for each of theplurality of merchant locations based on the stored merchant data. 29.The method of claim 14, wherein identifying the merchant category foreach of the plurality of merchant locations includes, by the processingcircuitry: receiving the merchant category for each of the plurality ofmerchant locations.